In the End: Revised
by Confureku
Summary: Revised version of my old one. A girl goes into Middle Earth, but she is mute. One day while there she gets her voice back, and slowly a mystery that knows no bounds is unravelled.
1. Prologue

Prologue  
  
"NO!"  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
The young woman ran off into the woods, quickly disappearing behind the thick foliage. The flaxen haired man sighed and turned away, walking in the opposite direction from where the woman had run. He stopped and turned back, his eyes filled with worry for her. It was dangerous in the forest, but she was strong and could take care of herself. Still, he had a bad feeling. He brushed it aside and continued to walk. He was too angry to care at the moment.  
  
The woman stopped running and turned to look behind her. Her eyes were filled with sorrow, she was consumed by an immense sadness for a reason she did not know. It wasn't because they had gotten into a fight........It was something else......... She turned back around and began to walk through the woods.  
  
The man stopped. He just had a very bad feeling, for a reason unknown he felt like crying. A tear slowly slipped down his cheek. He turned around and began to run towards the woman. He sprinted quickly, the trees flying by him in a blur. He couldn't find her. He called out her name frantically but there was no reply. He ran faster, intent on finding her before anything could happen. Bolting into a clearing, he froze, tears welling up in his eyes and then spilling over his lids. It couldn't be. He refused to believe it. It was not possible.  
  
He slowly began to walk towards the form, his feet touching the ground tenderly as though at any moment it would disappear from beneath him. Dread filled him as he came closer to the figure. He was close enough to touch it now. The man collapsed to his knees and grabbed her lifeless form, pulling it close to his body. He began to cry more fiercely.  
  
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have fought with you. This is my fault. I shouldn't have........I......I will not be able to survive this." He stroked her hair. Her body was mutilated; she was covered in bruises and blood, her clothes ripped nearly completely from her, her eyes still wide open in terror. He raised his hand up to her now hollow eyes and closed them, his body wracking with sobs.  
  
The man rubbed his hand over her cheek tenderly, whispering apologies into the wind. She had been his best friend, and the only true love he had ever known, and now she was snatched away from him before they had even had a real chance together. He would surely die of a broken heart. He closed his eyes tightly, rocking her form back and forth.  
  
The wind began to blow fiercely. He opened his eyes and looked at her as her hair was whipped around in the wind. As he watched, slowly at first, the scar on her neck, which looked like a small open eye, began to glow a light blue. The wind began to blow more violently, the blue swirling up from her neck as the scar disappeared and was carried off into the wind. The wind died down and all was quiet. He closed his eyes tightly once more in confusion and pain and he wept. 


	2. Silence

Chapter 2: Silence  
  
Erin looked out the window, watching the sheets of rain hit the dirt ground and bounce off. The window itself looked like a mirror of water: the way it reflected images, making them twist and contort as the water slid off the glass pane. She didn't make a sound, just sat there staring out the window at her reflection. Not much had happened that day; she was the only one home, since she lived by herself. There was always a silence about the house, Even if a noise was made it was as though the walls themselves sucked it up, returning silence to the abode.  
  
Erin moved away from the window and walked over to her piano, not making a sound, then lightly ran her fingers over the keys.  
  
She just looked at it for a while, then after a moment she pulled out the bench so that she might sit. She hit one of the keys and listened to the sound float about the house. It was her voice, since she had none of her own. A bolt of lightning cracked sharply outside.  
  
Slowly, as though it would collapse under her weight, she sat down on the bench. Her fingers began to play, making a beautiful melody emanate throughout the house. She closed her eyes and just listened, her hands taking on minds of their own.  
  
At the sound of another bolt of lightning and her horse running, Erin's eyes shot open. She stood quickly and ran out the front door into the pouring rain, then ran across the yard to the fenced off section her horse was kept in. The rain was falling so heavily that she was completely drenched by the time she reached it. The large black gelding started when it saw her, but ran towards her after she was recognized, hoping to find safety.  
  
Erin reached her hands up to its head, stroking it soothingly. The horse slowly began to calm down, until lightning struck again, this time hitting the ground near her house. The area that the lightning struck was surrounded by dry leaves, as they were kept dry from the overhanging roof. She watched in horror as they sparked and caught fire, beginning to spread slowly to the rest of her house.  
  
Erin looked on in terror as her horse, Aegnor, began to run about the yard, slipping in the mud and almost running through trees. Erin didn't know what to do, he was going to hurt himself and she couldn't control him from her position standing on the ground. She thought for a moment and then came to a quick decision. She ran across the yard to a path that she anticipated Aegnor taking, and waited, watching him closely, until he turned and began to run in her direction.  
  
He was going very fast and was slipping, so this would be difficult. Erin looked up to the sky, which was near black with the dark storm clouds rolling in. She looked back to her horse, her eyes set in determination: now was her chance. As Aegnor passed she reached her hands up, grasped his mane, and swung herself up onto his back. She was almost thrown off immediately. Her horse was in a blind panic; there had never been a storm this bad before.  
  
Erin hugged her body close to his and held on tight, Aegnor was running directly toward the burning house. She sucked in a sharp breath and braced herself. Aegnor stopped abruptly and reared up onto his hind legs, sliding across the mud. Erin heard another sharp crack of lightning. She looked up and saw a bright flash of light before everything went black. 


	3. Sounds

Chapter 3: Sounds  
  
Her senses came to one at a time. Her hearing was the first thing to surface. There was a quiet rustling of leaves and the sound of wind blowing through grass. She felt something bump up against her cheek as she opened her eyes. There was Aegnor, grazing quietly next to her head. She sat up slowly and took in her surroundings. It was absolutely beautiful.  
  
There was thick green grass covering the ground, with fallen leaves scattered about. She was in the middle of a clearing in a thick forest, so thick that she was unable to see more than twenty feet away.  
  
Erin stood up and looked down at herself then at her horse: they were both caked in mud. She smiled. As she thought the smile slowly faded from her face when she realized that she didn't have any idea where they were. She looked around once again, trying to get her bearings, but it was no use. Where SHE lived NOTHING looked like this.  
  
She sighed. 'Well,' she thought, 'I suppose I should try to find my way around.' She looked to her horse, and moved towards him to get his attention. Hopping up, she jumped on top of his back, and squeezed him with her legs. He began to move forward immediately, turning when she would use her hands to place pressure on either side of his neck.  
  
It was so quiet in these woods that she was beginning to get nervous. None of the animals were making any sounds: the wind wasn't even blowing.  
  
Eyeing the woods nervously, she put more pressure on Aegnor's sides, pushing him up to a trot. It was then that she heard it; there were footsteps behind them. They were moving quickly, and getting closer to her. Erin turned her head and saw something, however, what it was she couldn't tell. It was fairly far off, but it was gaining on them quickly. The figure was a dark blur and it didn't move in a straight line. That was the reason it was so frightening. The figure was jerking back and forth, from side to side. Its movements were jagged and looked labored. What the hell was it?  
  
She gave Aegnor a swift kick in the side. He jumped slightly and kicked his hind legs against the ground in a sudden burst of speed. He pounded his hooves against the ground, almost as though he sensed the urgency of the situation. She looked behind her, the figure was moving faster now as well, it was a complete blur. She turned to face forward and hunched over so that there would be less resistance from the wind and clutched his mane tightly.  
  
Aegnor began to run even faster. The wind was whipping his mane and tail behind them, along with Erin's hair, which was coming out of its braid. Everything was moving by them quickly, creating long, blurry streaks of green and brown as they passed the trees. She could barely hear the figure getting closer over her horse's thundering hoof-beats. She turned to look behind herself once more.  
  
The figure was almost directly behind them. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the being. Even though it was as close as it was, she still couldn't make out what type of creature it was; the figure was still just a dark blur.  
  
Erin turned back just in time to see the ledge of a drop off about two feet in front of them. It was already too late to do anything. She opened her mouth to scream but no noise came out. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as they fell through the air. Erin could feel her body lifting up off of Aegnor's and they plummeted towards the water below.  
  
Erin looked down and, grabbing Aegnor's mane, pulled herself back down towards his body. Just as she did so they hit the water. She took in a sharp breath as the cold water came in contact with her body. Horse and rider were then enveloped under several feet of icy water. 


	4. Sleep

Chapter 4: Sleep  
  
Erin gasped as they rose to the surface. The water splashed around them as they were swept down river. Aegnor kicked furiously, trying to reach shore. Erin looked ahead of them and then began to paddle furiously as well. They were coming up to a waterfall quickly. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she paddled with all of her being, but before they could reach the shore they fell once again and sunk deep below the surface of the water.  
  
As she looked she could see the rays of sunlight dancing through the water, making small shadows flutter about the rocks on the riverbed. It was almost pretty down here. Erin's body took over and she kicked upwards until she and Aegnor erupted through the surface of the water. The water seemed to be calmer now. Aegnor swam over to the bank and stumbled through the mud, slipping until he was able to get all the way up onto shore.  
  
Erin took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She turned around from her seat on Aegnor to look back at the waterfall. It wasn't incredibly high, but it was still quite a drop down. She looked further and saw the creature at the edge of the woods. It looked directly at her. Although it had no visible eyes she could tell that it was looking at her. It let out a shrill cry that made her ears ache and jumped off the little ledge into the water.  
  
Erin began to panic; it was still coming after her. She turned to face forward and gave Aegnor a little kick. He slipped slightly on the slimy floor but made it to solid ground at the edge of the woods, then they once again sped off through the forest. Erin look behind them, she could not see the creature anywhere. Perhaps they were safe for now.  
  
Aegnor slowed and came to a stop. They had been at a dead run for nearly an hour now. He panted heavily and stamped his feet. Erin reached down and patted his neck, then slowly slid off of him. They were now clean of the mud that had been previously caked on them because of their fall into the river, and she was nearly dry from the wind caused by the speed of Aegnor's running. When her feet touched the ground her knees buckled and she fell. Riding a horse at that speed for a prolonged period of time was difficult and she hadn't realized how weak her legs were. Now she was dehydrated and starving, she couldn't even imagine what it was like for Aegnor.  
  
She crawled across the grass, looking for some kind of food. Erin spotted a small stream nearby and scrambled over to it, dipping her hands into the cool water, bringing it up to her face, and taking large gulps. Aegnor walked over to the stream and began to drink as well, almost as though he had stayed back so that Erin could make sure that is was safe first.  
  
Erin sat up and wiped the water that was dripping down her chin, then looked around. She still didn't recognize anything in the surrounding area. The woods weren't so quiet now, and it was getting dark out.  
  
Erin looked over to Aegnor then down at her jeans. She wanted to get some sleep but she was afraid of him running off. If he did run off and that thing came back then she was royally screwed. Looking back down at her jeans once more, she decided to make a small rope so that she could tie him to a tree. She looked around nervously, half expecting that someone would be spying on her, then almost smacked herself on the forehead. Who exactly would be watching her out here? She took off her pants and tried to rip them.  
  
Nothing happened so she pulled on them harder. Her face was now turning red. It always looked so easy to rip up clothes in the movies! Finally she gave up trying to rip it with her hands and put the piece of cloth in her mouth. She tugged as hard as she could with her teeth.  
  
RIIIIIIP!  
  
Erin fell backwards onto the grass. She had ripped her jeans up the side of the leg. She pulled on them again, ripping them to the left, making the leg come off so that it was a pair of shorts, well, sort of. She blinked at her pants; one leg was a pair of shorts now, while the other was still a full pant leg. She moved to the other leg and ripped it off, after another moment's struggle, so that they were even, then she began shredding the pant legs as best as she could, making little strips of cloth, then trying them together to make a long rope.  
  
By the time she was done her fingers were raw and the rope was about twenty five feet long, which would give Aegnor room to walk around and graze during the night. She tied the rope around his head, making a sloppy, but functional halter, and climbed up the tree he was attached to so that she could sleep. Her mind wandered over the events of the day as she drifted off into slumber. 


	5. Deafening Silence

Chapter 5: Deafening Silence  
  
Erin awoke to the sound of Aegnor stamping his feet frantically. She immediately became fully awake and alert as she looked around nervously. She could hear something coming towards them: the noise of something heavy and awkward and the footsteps were ragged and uneven. The noise was still far off, and it was moving slowly.  
  
She quietly climbed down from the tree and untied Aegnor, then hopped on top of his back, after taking the rope off of him, and they galloped off. It was then that she noticed the woods: none of the animals were making a single sound. The deafening silence was broken by an inhuman scream, one that sounded olike a mix of ripping metal and shattering glass.  
  
She kicked Aegnor and he picked up the pace as they wove between trees and bushes. After a couple of minutes she couldn't hear the creature following them so she slowed her horse to a lope and continued on. It was nearly dawn now; at least she had the slight comfort of daylight.  
  
.........................................  
  
It was early in the morning but fully light out as Erin stopped. She had been alone, lost in the woods for six days now. Over the days she had traveled along the stream and would stop occasionally to scrounge for food. Erin knew that she couldn't go on like this for much longer. Aegnor was fine since there was plenty of grass in the thick forest, but she could hardly find so much as a berry for herself.  
  
She was slowly starving to death, and she was now very weak. Since the first night that she had fled from the tree the creature had chased after her once more, but had left her alone since then. It was a good thing too, she was so tired that if it did chase her she wasn't sure that she'd be able to hold on to Aegnor if he went any faster than a walk. That was how they'd been traveling the last few days, at a walking pace.  
  
Erin slid off of Aegnor's back and crawled over to a nearby tree to rest. She crawled up into the branches and closed her eyes, instantly falling into a dreamless sleep. Erin didn't realize, however, that she hadn't tied Aegnor up.  
  
Aegnor walked around the tree and began to graze, looking up occasionally. After a few minutes his head shot up and his ears faced forward, listening closely to something in the distance, then he trotted off towards the noise.  
  
Erin awoke to silence. Dead silence. No animals in the area made a single noise. Her eyes widened in fear as she realized the implications of this. She looked down, trying to spot Aegnor, then began to panic as she saw that he was nowhere to be found. All she could possibly do was sit there and wait, hoping that the thing didn't find her, for she knew that she had absolutely no chance trying to get away on foot.  
  
A flash of something caught her eye. It wasn't dark, but in fact it was light, very light, like pale hair. Whatever was making the noise was walking silently through the woods. It was then that she heard very light hoof beats and saw Aegnor following quietly behind the stranger. Was he stealing her horse?  
  
She didn't care very much at the moment though, she was just incredibly happy to see anybody in these seemingly abandoned woods at all. Erin shifted so that she could climb down.  
  
The man's head turned sharply in her direction and the thought that he had good hearing flitted through Erin's mind. Before she could have another thought, though, there was an arrow flying towards her head. She dropped flat to the branch quickly, just as the arrow struck the trunk behind her. It seemed that he thought her dangerous in some form or another. What was she supposed to do? She certainly couldn't TELL him that she meant no harm.  
  
She thought quickly and, with as little movement as possible, ripped a small piece of cloth off of her long sleeved shirt and let it fall from the tree. She could see him watching the small piece of cloth flutter to the ground. Slowly, he lowered his bow and began to approach the tree with trepidation; his eyes constantly fixed on the tree. When he was about twenty feet away his face seemed to soften as he realized it was a girl in the tree. He put away his bow entirely and smiled.  
  
"Do not be frightened, Lady, I will not harm you. I'm afraid I just did not realize that you were a woman. There have been many evil things lurking about this forest."  
  
If Erin could have spoken she would have said something to the effect of "Well no shit Sherlock." She'd the misfortune of meeting one of those 'evil things.'  
  
Eyeing him nervously, she began to climb slowly down the tree. She dropped the last five feet to the ground and ducked behind the tree, her head poking out around the trunk as she gazed at him. She then noticed Aegnor standing behind the attractive man. Erin reached her hand around the trunk and did a few flowing gestures very quickly, then pulled her hand back behind the tree.  
  
Aegnor walked from behind the man, around the tree, and stood behind Erin. The man looked at them strangely.  
  
"How did you do that? You are able to converse with your horse without speech?"  
  
Erin looked at him and didn't move.  
  
"I promise I will not hurt you. Please do not be afraid of me." He held his hand out to her. She stared at it for a moment then, after some hesitation, placed her hand in his and stepped out from behind the tree. Erin let go of his hand and put both of hers behind her back after she was in full view. He stared at his own hand for a moment.  
  
"Your skin is so cold. How long have you been out here?"  
  
Erin put her hands in front of her and held up six fingers.  
  
"Six hours?"  
  
Erin shook her head and held up six fingers again.  
  
"Six days?" He raised his voice slightly, his eyes filled with surprise. The man looked down at her clothes and his eyes widened even more. "What has happened to you?"  
  
Erin's clothes were dirty and torn, with some blood splattered on her shirt from a couple days ago when she had fallen from a tree and had been slashed, fairly deeply, on her arm by a sharp rock. She looked down at herself and shrugged.  
  
"Come with me." She shied away from him. "It is all right. My name is Legolas. What is yours?"  
  
She was silent. He seemed to take slight offense to her silence.  
  
"Well if you will not tell me then I will simply give you one. I will call you Sain."  
  
Erin felt a little guilty. He thought that she wasn't talking to him because she didn't trust him. He turned to lead her off. She grabbed his arm and turned him around, then held up her pinkie finger.  
  
"What?" she figured he probably didn't know sign language so she tried a different approach. She pointed to her eye.  
  
"You see something?" She shook her head no. She pointed to herself.  
  
"You?" She smiled and nodded. Then she shook her head and mouthed the word 'not'.  
  
"You're not.........." She nodded. Then she pointed to her throat and then to her mouth.  
  
"You're not talk.You're not able to talk?" he asked. She nodded. "Oh." He seemed to think over this for a moment. "Will you come with me anyway?" She nodded and began to follow on Aegnor as he walked off. Legolas stopped and turned around, "May I ride with you? It will be much faster." She nodded.  
  
Legolas walked up to her horse and moved to get on. Aegnor jumped to the side and prepared to run. Erin put her hand where he could see it and made a few sharp gestures, then Aegnor seemed to calm. Legolas walked up to him again and this time hopped up on top of his back without a problem. He reached his arms around Erin and put his hands on the horse's neck so that he could control him.  
  
Erin was glad that Legolas couldn't see her face at that particular moment because she was blushing furiously.  
  
An hour later her eyes began to droop; she was really tired. She felt herself leaning back into him. Not allowing herself to give in so easily she jerked back up, determined not to fall asleep on him. Her eyes began to droop again, and then, her mind losing the battle with her body, closed all together. She finally gave in and leaned into him, surrendering to sleep.  
  
Erin could hear something. It sounded like a drum: a deep steady thumping. It was dark all around her, but she could hear the last vestiges of the thumping echoing around her, then everything went silent. The darkness seemed to swirl around her, enveloping her. It was cold: very, VERY cold. She could feel the life being sucked out of her. Something was whispering to her in the shadows. Erin began to cry, and then she screamed.  
  
Erin jumped awake, her eyes wide in terror. She struggled: something was holding her in her place.  
  
"Shhh. Calm down, it is okay. You only slept and must have dreamed of something terrible by the looks of it."  
  
Erin calmed down a bit as she recognized Legolas' voice then, after she had calmed down completely, she began to think about the unnerving dream. It seemed so familiar. What had unnerved her the most, though, was that she had screamed. She had actually made noise. She had never made any noise in a dream before. Erin looked at their surroundings. It was midday and the sun was high up in the sky. Legolas bent over slightly.  
  
"We're in Mirkwood and almost to my home."  
  
Erin looked up at the sky. A little bit of sunlight was filtering through the trees, casting shadows about the ground. Because she wasn't paying attention, she began to slip from the horse's back and didn't notice until it was too late to stop the fall. She slid to the side and fell to the ground.  
  
"AH!" she squeaked when her butt came in contact with the hard ground. Erin froze. She'd made a noise, an actual word, well..........sort of.......... She looked up at Legolas who was standing on the ground with a worried expression on his face.  
  
"I though that you were unable to speak."  
  
She pointed to herself and shook her head.  
  
"You can't? But you just..........." He was interrupted by her grabbing a stick and writing in the dirt. He looked over her shoulder at the markings.  
  
"I am sorry, but I am afraid that I cannot read the writing of your language."  
  
Erin sighed. She pointed to herself then shook her head, did a gesture with her hands, and mouthed the word "before".  
  
"You were never able to before?" she nodded. "That is strange, but we must hurry we only have a few hours before night comes, and even I do not wish to be caught in the middle of Mirkwood in the dark without a larger company." She nodded and hopped back onto Aegnor's back. Legolas followed suit and they began to ride once again. 


	6. A Bit of Fun

Chapter 6: A Bit of Fun  
  
"I am sorry, cannot do that."  
  
"Yes you can."  
  
"I will not do that to them!"  
  
"No!"  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
The young woman ran off into the woods, quickly disappearing behind the thick foliage. The flaxen haired man sighed and turned away, walking in the opposite direction from where the woman had run. He stopped and turned back, his eyes filled with worry for her.  
  
Legolas shot up in bed, his eyes wide, sweat dripping down his forehead. Recently his dreams had haunted him. They had stopped for a while, but he had just started having them again.  
  
He got out of bed and walked to his door. Legolas and Erin had arrived earlier that day to the kingdom in Mirkwood. She had been questioned by the king, Thranduil, who seemed to be little perturbed about Erin's inability to talk. He would have thrown her in the dungeon, but Legolas had talked to his father and now Erin was in a guestroom, asleep.  
  
Legolas stepped out of his room and into the cool night air, then walked over to the railing that was along the side of the walkway. He leaned up against it and looked up at the sky. It was a clear night; the sky was a dark blue with small white dots scattered across it. He stared up at it, thinking about all that had happened that day. The day that he wished had never happened so long ago.  
  
He could still hear her voice; he could still see her retreating form running off into the woods. He wondered now why he had not died that day. He should have died of a broken heart. Then he remembered her scar, the one that was a small oval with a dot in the middle. It looked just like a very small, open eye; but he still wondered what had happened to it. The scar seemed to be carried off by the wind in the form of a blue light.  
  
Legolas pictured her face, covered in blood and bruises as the wind whipped her hair around. Shutting his eyes tightly he tried to erase the image from his mind, but it would never stay away for long. In order to get his mind off of the subject he decided to go and check on Erin to see if she was sleeping well.  
  
He walked down the hall until he came to her door, paused in front of it, then slowly opened it, trying not to make any noise. Legolas peered inside, expecting to see her asleep on the bed, but instead he came face to face with a pair of eyes.  
  
Jumping back away from the door, he nearly fell over. Erin opened the door the rest of the way, a wide smile plastered on her face. The look of surprise slowly left his face and was replaced by a smile large enough to match hers. He let out a quiet chuckle.  
  
"May I come inside?" he asked, motioning to her door. She nodded and held the door open for him. Quietly closing the door behind herself she walked to the window, leaned over the ledge, and looked down. Legolas slowly walked towards her and looked out the window, trying to see what she was looking at. What he saw astonished him.  
  
Erin's horse was standing there, with what looked like a pair of Elven pants in his mouth. He looked at Erin who had quite the shit eating grin on her face, then watched as she made a few symbols with her hand to her horse. The horse dropped the pants, walked over a bit through the bushes, and came back with another pair of pants.  
  
Legolas looked to the left where the horse had come from. He saw four male elves sitting in a bathing pool with their clothes hung on the bushes. Of course the Elves didn't suspect anything, for they only heard a horse moving around, so they did not think to look for their pants. He looked at Erin who had a look of pure glee on her face, laughing silently. He began to laugh, a look of shock on his face at her antics.  
  
She was telling her horse to walk over there and steal those Elves' pants!  
  
The horse walked back one more time, grabbed the last pair of pants, walked back under her window, and dropped them into the pile of clothes. Erin held up a hand to Legolas, indicating for him to stay there, then ran out of her room.  
  
Legolas blinked a couple times then turned back to the window, wondering what she was up to now. He looked out the window at the horse for a few moments then saw Erin run up to her horse, pick up the pants, pat her horse on its head, and run back in the direction that she came from.  
  
He waited and a minute later she burst into the room with the pants. Erin dropped them on her bed and ran over to the window. She stuck her hand out and did a few gestures, then her horse walked away and began to "casually" graze.  
  
Legolas watched as the elves finished bathing and stepped out of the water to look for their clothes. It made for a funny sight when they finally gave up and decided that they would just have to sprint inside and avoid attention. Erin was now almost rolling on the floor. After a moment she composed herself, walked over to the window and, using sign language, told her horse that he could leave.  
  
Collapsing on her bed, Erin began to silently laugh once again. Legolas walked over to her, still chuckling slightly, and sat down next to her on the bed, the cushion barely moving under his weight.  
  
"I came to see how you were sleeping, but I see that question has been answered, so I will ask another question. Since you are so obviously wide awake, would you like to accompany me on a walk?" he finished his question, a smile still seen clearly in his eyes.  
  
Erin turned to him, a large smile spread across her face, and nodded.  
  
"Good, then I will just wait outside of your room so that you may prepare yourself."  
  
Erin looked down at herself, and then back up to him, indicating that she was already dressed and ready to go. He looked at her.  
  
"Shall we be off, then?" He held his arm out to her. She took it gladly and walked out of the room, skipping the whole way.  
  
Legolas laughed. "My, you certainly are energetic for it being such a late hour."  
  
Erin just looked at him, a devilish grin creeping its way across her face. She let go of his arm and took off running down the hall.  
  
Legolas stood there for a moment until he realized what she was doing. He smiled and then ran down the hall after her. If she wanted to play a chasing game, then he would give her the run of her life. 


	7. Hide and Seek, Erin Style

Chapter 7: Hide and Seek, Erin Style  
  
Erin ducked behind a tree and panted, a smile written clearly on her face, then quietly climbed up the tree and waited in the branches. She was full of energy now. As soon as they had gotten to the Elf dwellings she had been fed and slept for the rest of the day, so now she was more than fully awake and energized.  
  
She was at the edge of the forest sitting in one of the trees that was quite a bit taller than the rest and was well hidden. Listening carefully, she could hear footsteps approaching the tree. The footsteps were getting closer. She pouted slightly at the thought that Legolas had found her so easily, but then she smiled again; this was still a lot of fun, even if he did find her so quickly.  
  
She tried to look through the branches of the tree, but the leaves were too thick. 'Why won't the wind blow or something? Then the branches would move a bit and I could see something,' she thought, then she froze. The wind wasn't blowing, AT ALL. She listened to everything around her, trying to catch a sound, ANY sound, but only silence met her.  
  
Erin flattened herself to the branch and held her breath. That thing was near her, she could feel it. As she was hiding she heard more footsteps, very light ones; they were barely audible and sounded like the person was making the noise on purpose.  
  
Erin lowered herself from the branch slightly and looked out of the tree; there was Legolas. She turned and looked in the other direction. There was something there, but it was not the creature that she saw before: it was something uglier, but not quite as creepy. With the direction that the ugly creature was heading in it was likely that it was going to pass directly under the tree she was in, straight towards Legolas. The creature seemed to notice the Elf for the first time and stared at him, a look of pure hatred in its eyes.  
  
Slowly the creature unsheathed a long, ugly sword, if it could even be called that, and began to walk more quietly. Anger boiled up inside of Erin. This foul looking creature was going to hurt her friend. How dare he! She would never allow any harm to come to her friends.  
  
Because of her muteness, she had been trained to defend herself quite nicely. If anything happened to her she could not scream so she had to be able to take care of herself no matter what the situation was; and she would much rather have harm come to herself than to others, at least others that she cared about.  
  
It has been said that people fight more fiercely when defending someone else rather than themselves, but Erin went above and beyond this.  
  
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the ugly thing, she could feel her mood changing to that of a defensive one. This thing would hurt Legolas over her dead body.  
  
Erin raised herself up into a crouching position on the branch as quietly as she could, her hands gripping it tightly. She waited quietly until the creature was almost under the tree. As it came closer her glare turned into an evil smirk. This thing was going to pay for trying to hurt her friend.  
  
Erin waited patiently as it got closer and closer, thinking that it hadn't been seen and then it was under the tree. Erin bent over so that her head was pointing towards the ground, let go of the branch, and pushed off the with her hind legs, sending herself flying towards it. The thing never saw her coming. In a heartbeat she had it knocked to the ground. The creature let out a guttural cry and pushed her off.  
  
Erin rolled back pushed against the ground with her arms so that she was in a handstand, and put her left leg forward so that her weight was shifted and she landed on her feet. She glared at the thing, a hint of amusement in her eyes. Did it really think that it could defeat her just by trying to push her to the ground?, She jumped at it, her right hand drawn back to punch. The creature saw what she was about to do and jerked away from the blow. Erin smiled. The stupid thing had fallen for it. She thrust her left hand forward, smashing the heel of her hand into the side of its neck.  
  
It stumbled back with the force of her blow. Erin didn't hesitate; she ran forward, jumping up on top of its shoulders and swung her right foot to the left, as though she were kicking a soccer ball. Her foot connected squarely with the side of its head, causing it to snap to the side. Erin pushed off its shoulders and swung her hands behind herself, arcing her back, she tucked her knees into her chest as she flipped away from the creature the straightened her body out just as she was an inch away from the ground, landing directly behind the creature in a crouch. It stumbled around a bit. Erin, still crouched low to the ground, used all of her leg power to push away from the ground and slam her fist into its back. It dropped down to its knees. Erin did a back flip over the creature, then stood and turned to it slowly.  
  
Time seemed to slow down as her eyes met its. They stared at one another for a moment, a look of hatred in its eyes equal to hers. Erin jumped up into the air, turned, and extended her leg out to the side. As she turned, her right leg swung around and slammed into his jaw, effectively breaking its neck.  
  
Legolas ran over just as a sharp crack was heard. He had seen the whole scene from the time she jumped out of the tree on. He hadn't really had time to stop the fight since it happened so quickly, but a thought dawned on him: she had just killed an Orc with her bare hands. 


	8. Watching and Listening

Chapter 8: Watching and Listening  
  
A/N: Hi there! If you're reading this I thank you! There is some Elvish in this chapter and some words I couldn't find in Sindarin, so there is a mix of Quenya and Sindarin, just to let you know!  
  
Erin turned and looked at Legolas, who had a look of shock on his face.  
  
"How did you do that? Not many can kill an Orc with their bare hands!"  
  
An Orc? So that's what it was called. "Oooooorrrrkeh?" Erin said it slowly, testing the way it felt on her tongue. Legolas's eyes widened; she was learning to speak. His shocked expression slowly turned into a smile as he walked closer to her.  
  
"I am glad that you are okay, but you really shouldn't try to fight with Orcs. Come, let us go back to my home."  
  
Erin smiled and walked along side him, thinking about what her first word was. Orc. What a foul creature that was! She decided then that she would work on talking every night, when nobody was around. She thought about all the things she could tell the Elves; all the things she could ask them, then a thought struck her: she would finally be able to tell them what her name was.  
  
Erin decided to work on her name tonight, and then she would tell Legolas tomorrow. She didn't notice the look that Legolas was giving her. Her was giving her an odd looking, wondering what she was suddenly looking so excited about.  
  
.........................................  
  
Erin awoke just as the sun was barely coming up through the trees. She jumped up as soon as she had stretched in bed and looked for some clothes. She had only been at this place for a day, so she didn't have any clothes other than her own, and they were quite dirty, worn, and ripped. As her mind battle with the possibility of going out in her undergarments and asking someone about clothes she remembered something, a female elf had come in yesterday and told her that she would wash Erin's clothes for her, and that there were more clothes for her in what Erin would call a closet. The Elf had called it something else, but Erin didn't remember what.  
  
She walked over to it and opened the doors, then she frowned. It was filled with a bunch of dresses! Erin didn't particularly like dresses, but she wasn't going to complain: these people were giving her shelter and food, so she might as well be grateful.  
  
She grabbed one of the dresses, a green one, and put it on quickly, then ran, or attempted as best as she could in a dress, over to a small table with a brush on it. She picked it up and ran it through her hair, which wasn't incredibly long, only about down to the bottom of her shoulder blades, a couple of times.  
  
Erin then put her hair up into a bun, with two small braids, made from the hair behind her ears, wrapped around it and tied to hold the bun there. She slipped on a pair of shoes and ran out of her room.  
  
Last night, while trying to say her name, she had decided that she would spend most of the day listening to other people talking so that she could pick some of it up. She ran down the hallway, nearly colliding with a few Elves, until she finally came to a small garden.  
  
She walked into the middle of it and sat down. Here she could listen to everybody talking without being a nuisance. She quieted herself and listened intently, watching people's mouths to see what shapes they were making, then she stopped. They were speaking another language, one she had never heard before. Legolas had spoken to her in a language that she could understand, so why did these people speak in another one?  
  
She sighed, this was going to take a lot longer than she had originally anticipated, but she could do it. She'd spent her whole life listening to other people talk, surely she would be able to figure out what they were saying eventually.  
  
Erin came and listened to people everyday for a week. At night she would go exploring, sometimes with Legolas.  
  
The Elf maidens she had met were very nice and would sometimes sit and talk to her for hours. They would tell her about history, art, and different Elvish customs, at least she thought so........... They would always speak to her in their own native tongue. They all knew that she could not speak as of yet, but they would still talk to her. Most of the male Elves didn't pay much heed to her. However, some of them talked to her, but most seemed to be busy.  
  
The female Elves taught her how to sew her own clothes. It was fun to listen to them talk, it was something about the way the language sounded. She had not been able to see Legolas very much, for he was busy preparing for some type of trip he had to take. But that was fine with her, she kept herself amused easily enough.  
  
Erin looked outside at the sky. It was dusk and soon darkness would cover the Elf dwellings. She walked over to her door and opened it quietly, stepping outside. Everyone had told her not to go into the woods by herself, especially at night, but what was the worst that could happen? If another one of those Orcs found her she could take care of herself, after all, she HAD been able to defeat one previously.  
  
Just to be on the safe side she grabbed the small dagger, which she had carved out of wood one day when she was bored, and tied it to her leg, just above her knee, with some twine. With the knife there, if something happened all she had to do was reach up under her dress and grab it.  
  
She still had a good hour before she was going to go exploring, so she decided to stop by Legolas's room. Erin walked up to his door and knocked on it, bur there was no reply. She waited a moment and then slowly opened the door. His room looked somehow different than from the last time she had been in it. She stepped inside and walked around the corner.  
  
Erin turned a deep shade of crimson. Well, she found an Elf, a naked one, one who definitely was NOT Legolas. So that was why the room looked different; it wasn't his. She bowed an apology, ducked out of the room and ran.  
  
Legolas's room was one door down. She calmed herself and knocked on it.  
  
"You may enter," came his reply. Erin opened the door and walked inside.  
  
"Suilannad!" she called. Legolas started and looked up at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Amin said suilannad." (I said hello.) Erin smiled at him.  
  
"I'm impressed. Lle istui avorn."  
  
Erin gave him a blank stare. "Amin car al henio." (I do not understand.)  
  
"I said, you learned quickly."  
  
"Amin tira." (I see)  
  
"Merna an pada godref?" (Want to walk together?) Legolas asked.  
  
Erin nodded. They walked down the hall together.  
  
"Ir lle.." Erin began, but she didn't know how to say the last word.  
  
"When am I leaving?" Legolas finished for her.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I leave in two days."  
  
Erin looked down. She would miss talking to him. What would she do for months without him? Legolas turned and looked down at her.  
  
"Lle merna an teli ah amin?" (You want to come with me?)  
  
Erin looked up at him. "Can I?"  
  
"Lle mothron. Car lle iest an?" (You may. Do you wish to?)  
  
Erin smiled. "Yes!" she nearly yelled with enthusiasm.  
  
Legolas laughed. "Amin inc lle anta an-"  
  
"Amin car ha si!" (I'll do it now!) With that last comment Erin ran off to pack her things. 


End file.
